The plot is not very important to me, though a novel must have one, of course. It's just a line to hang the washing on.

A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.

Anyone who picks up a Compton-Burnett finds it very hard not to put it down.

There are different kinds of wrong. The people sinned against are not always the best.

My youth is escaping without giving me anything it owes me.

We can build upon foundations anywhere if they are well and firmly laid.

As regards plot I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots. And as I think a plot desirable and almost necessary, I have this extra grudge against life.

Real life seems to have no plots.

I never know why self-sacrifice is noble. Why is it better to sacrifice oneself than someone else?

Many people misjudge the permanent effect of sorrow, and their capacity to live in the past.

Appearances are not held to be a clue to the truth,' said his cousin. 'But we seem to have no other.

Don’t be deceived by the spirit of complacency and think you have achieved enough. Try to become better than you’ve been.

The god's chosen beverage. Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!

I didn't know what to expect, having not been an artist before. From the outside, you only see romantic snapshots of what seems like a great lifestyle, and it is, but it's also grueling.

Don't worry about finding your soul mate. Find yourself.

I love to read. I have a Kindle, and it's nice to be able to download books that people refer.

The actual writing is what you live for. The rest is something you have to get through in order to arrive at the point.

My instinct as a philosopher is that we are effectively approaching a multicentric world, which means we need to ask new, and for the traditional left, unpleasant questions.

What we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord.

Whatever the mind of man creates, should be controlled by man's character.

Where I'm from is like 'Hustle Flow' versus '8 Mile.' It's that really grimy, box-Chevy, dope-boy, working-class music.